Having worked in East Europe for several years and as an Eritrean, I came across a quite unique and somehow familiar experience of life. It reminded me of my childhood in the early 80s, when my parents migrated to Germany during the liberation struggle in Eritrea.

Eritrean families used to be rather huge in size at that time. The German authorities settled us far out from every civilisation in a small village near the boarder to France. Hence, the villagers were quiet curios’ and astonished about the newcomers, which I did not understand at that time.

We were the only black family within a radius of 31 miles from the place we were living. No wonder that we were an attraction in many ways for the local people.

Some of the locals felt sorry, and tried to make life easier for us by inviting us to their home or helping us with formalities. I just remember one funny occasion, when our whole family was invited to a nights out at our neighbours place. When we arrived at the place there were many friends and relatives of our neighbours.

To my surprise they had placed three or four African drums at the middle of the living room and expected us to play them. In astonishment we looked at each other not knowing how to avoid disappointing our neighbours. So we started drumming the typical Eritrean “gualia” rhythm, which is no major science to do.

Honestly, no one of us new how to get African vibes and beats out of these drums. To our relieve people got bored quiet soon and the hosts changed the venue to the hobby room in order to show dia slights of their last holiday.

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For the past few years African countries exporting mining products were in a good bargaining position, due to a strong world demand and high prices. This has recently changed due to the world recession and declining commodity prices. The shift places big western companies in a better bargaining position, which is in general terms nothing to worry about, as it reflects the rule of a free market economy.

However, those big players tend to overstep the mark if the African continent becomes desperate for income in times of world crisis. Many countries want to cash-in quickly on deals, they tend to undersell their treasures to the western companies contracting them for many years.

As a new entrant to the mining industry Eritrea should act wisely and assure that it gets a fair deal with the western companies (capitaleritrea article). Many African countries have been exploited in the history and the wealth has hardly benefited the origin of  the natural resources, speaking of  the country and the people. There are many examples, such as Nigeria, Kongo and many more who can serve as proof that foreign companies are only aiming for profit maximisation, but hardly for sustainable trade with the host country. This is exactly what African countries try to avoid by consolidating their efforts to put pressure on multinational companies and investors. Read more from the Business Daily.

In Asmara a 2 bed room flat (with kitchen- toilet shared) costs around 4000 to 5000 Eritrean Nakfa (200-260 Euros or 266-333 US Dollars). For 1 room flats, depending on the size of the flat, in the centre the costs are more then 2000 Nakfa (100 Euro or 140 US Dollars). For 1 room flats without kitchen and with shared toilets the costs are between 500 to 1000 Nakfa.